Galactic Alignment: The Transformation of Consciousness According to Mayan, Egyptian, and Vedic Traditions

Rating:
Summary: INTRIGUING, BUT HOW CREDIBLE?
Review: John Major Jenkins has done a huge amount of research, reading and thinking about the meaning of the Mayan Long Count end date of 2012. Whether His conclusions make sense to you depends on your belief system and your frame of reference.

It is difficult to evaluate a lot of his conjecture about ancient civilizations and what their icons, symbols, and writing might have meant in regard to the 2012 date. To Jenkins, it clearly means the alignment of the Winter Solstice meridian with the plane of the Galactic Center, which is happening now, in our own era. Although the Mayans chose to end their count on December 21, 2012 (by our calendar), the actual alignment happens over a period of time. Many experts think a better date would have been 1998 or 1999. If the alignment is the reason for the end date, and if the alignment happens over some years of time, that seems to indicate the date does not signify an apocalyptic event, as many think. Jenkins speculates that the "end time" is really a period of rising awareness, a time when our very consciousness can shift to a new level.

As I read of the many "sacred alignments" on earth, important ancient cities and markers that line up in geometric fashion, I was reminded of another book I recently finished, Henry Lincoln's book, The Holy Place, about the area around Rennes-le-Chateau France. Lincoln identified many geometric alignments that he felt were beyond chance. But Jenkins raises the intriguing idea that these alignments on earth -- which mirror the occult dictum of "as above, so below" -- may not have been deliberate, but may be an unconscious response to some type of energy from space, or some dimension beyond our senses.

Is the Galactic Center the source of wisdom, of spirituality? Has our evolution seen sudden jumps because of this energy, and are we getting more of it now that our solar system is lined up with the Galactic center? These seem strange questions to those of us living in modern urban areas where we cannot even see the Milky Way at night. It is always a rare and beautiful night for me whenever I can see stars because, living in the Detroit area, we have way too much light pollution and poor quality of air to see the kind of panorama of lights the ancients must have seen. Jenkins makes the point that the Milky Way, our galaxy, is very visible from the high areas of South America.

I thought large parts of the book were tedious, as the text went over numerous examples, quoted the author's favorite writers, and expounded on astronomical lore that was too obscure to evaluate. If you have no acquaintance with the Precession of the Equinoxes, then a lot of the material here will be hard to follow. I recommend Graham Hancock's book, Fingerprint of the Gods, as a good introduction to the concepts of Precession and how the numbers are encoded in ancient legends, writings, and monuments.

The most interesting part of Galactic Alignment was near the end where we get the author's ideas. But here he diminishes what are fascinating speculations by too much sermonizing. If you don't believe in an unseen spiritual world or believe you have a spiritual body that continues to exist when your body dies, then the author's remarks will sound like so much hocum. Since I happen to share the author's beliefs, I did find his comments worthwhile. But I have to wonder: If this is a period when we have the opportunity to open ourselves to higher levels of enlightenment, are we doing that? There certainly has been a lot of interest in spiritual topics and re-examination of ancient beliefs. People are studying the Kabbala, embracing New Age ideas, meditating, learning about charkas and natural healing... but we also just re-elected George W. Bush. The conservatives and fundamentalists are also strong and religious differences around the world are bringing us wars and division. You could certainly build a case that none of this shows a human race becoming more spiritual or more enlightened.


Rating:
Summary: if you are into apocalypse/earth changes(2012)!!
Review: The book is about the coming changes to our consciousness in the next age.The author's theory is that the stories through the ages about the end of the world are not what is really going to happen,but that we will change as a species,on a mental level.Every 26,000 years our sun is in alignment with the very center of our galaxy.the center of the galaxy is connected to everything that revolves around it.For a long time our world has been in a down cycle,very low consciousness,greed,anger materialism.There was a time (our golden age)when we were in a up cycle,when our world/consciousness was connected to this nucleus/life force.The book goes into detail about astrological alignments and the old religions that new about this connection to our consciousness.This knowledge has trickled down to our times through things like the occult and meditation teachings,but has become distorted.It made me think about why it seems that the world is going crazy(lots of medicated people out there!),and that this is part of the effect before the 2012/new age changing.It might also explain why more and more people are experiencing paranormal stuff and becoming more spiritual,and the tensions for war are also building.It got me to read some more books on this subject.Instead of doom and gloom about coming earth changes the author's theory gives us some light at the end of the tunnel.

Rating:
Summary: Jenkins Best Work
Review: The conclusion of this book is the reason you won't find this book at B&N or borders or ANY bookstore for that matter. This conclusion, that we are between the years 2000 and 2012, going through the Galactic Equator Plane aligned with the central sun of the Milky WAy, which happens every 30 MILLION YEARS (which occurs 8 times in a Galactic Year of 250 million years). This conclusions disproves the central theme and flawed conclusion of "Catastrophobia" by clow, that we have 11,500 years ago passed through the galactic plane thereby averting the "every 30 million year catastrophe the earth goes through" has already happened. This book is worth your while to read, take my word on it.

Rating:
Summary: Jenkins Best Work
Review: The conclusion of this book is the reason you won't find this book at B&N or borders or ANY bookstore for that matter. This conclusion, that we are between the years 2000 and 2012, going through the Galactic Equator Plane aligned with the central sun of the Milky WAy, which happens every 30 MILLION YEARS (which occurs 8 times in a Galactic Year of 250 million years). This conclusions disproves the central theme and flawed conclusion of "Catastrophobia" by clow, that we have 11,500 years ago passed through the galactic plane thereby averting the "every 30 million year catastrophe the earth goes through" has already happened. This book is worth your while to read, take my word on it.

Rating:
Summary: Nutty Theories
Review: This book is fun for people who want to read a work of total fiction. However, for people who care about accuracy it is full of misinformation that does a disservice to readers who don't know any better. The sad thing is that there is good data out there, lots of it, especially on the Maya see Linda Schele's and David Fredel's "Maya Cosmos" and Barbara Tedlock's "Time and the Highland Maya," for example. Why do people who should know better write such stuff? And, perhaps more importantly why does anyone publish it?